I recently had surgery, and I have been prescribed vicodin. I was wondering if it is habit forming? My doctor suggests I take 1.5 pills every 5 hours, but I am only 95 lbs 5 ft. The bottle suggests 1 ...

My girlfriend tells me every once in a while how she feels heart pain. Shes too worried about there being something serious wrong with her heart so she refuses to go see a doctor about this. i asked ...

For 3 years I have been dealing with pain. We finally found out the problem and I had surgery 3 weeks ago. It was surgery to correct some female problems and allow us to concieve. I am super devoted to my husband and very spiritual but have kept a deep secret about this pain pill addiction. I've been on Hydrocodone 7.5 and 10.5, also dilaudid (however that's spelt) and have cut back on the intake but still...I wake up thinking about them and by the time I go to bed I'm having panic attacks that I've taken too many. It's a visious cycle. My husband is semi-aware but not completley. He knows I have to take them periodically but does not know how many I actually take. I also take an anit-depressant (zoloft cuz it's baby safe) and sometimes take xanax if needed. I'm terrified of accidently overdosing. any adivise? I feel like I can take care of it myself with out professional help but I may be beyond that point. I'm up to about 6 to 8 dilaudid a day...is that lethal?

You're not taking close to a lethal daily dose.
Some people can safely wean themselves off pain meds, just lower the dose gradually to avoid withdrawal symptoms. It's not as easy as it sounds though. See if you can do it, cut out one daily pill each week so the first week you're taking 5 pills a day, next week 4 pills a day etc. Get down to one and then take a half pill each day for a week until you stop altogether. If you can't do it alone you'll just have to talk to your doctor and get some help. It is so, so important that you get off of all of this before getting pregnant. Trust me, you're not going to shock your doctor, this is more common than you know. There's also probably a period of time you need to be clean before getting pregnant. I'm concerned about the thought of you getting pregnant while still taking any of these things even those you think are "baby safe". Too many times the doctors have thought a medicine was safe to take during pregnancy and then decades later they find it wasn't. Case in point: the DES babies.My mother was among the large number of women who was given DES to prevent miscarriage and as a result I had cervical cancer that was not detected until it was quite advanced because it is not a cancer detected on pap tests.
When I was pregnant with my first son I was told it would be fine to take tetracycline for a sinus infection and my son's baby teeth were yellowed, his elbow has a deformity and his fingers are shaped oddly. and all because of the tetracycline I took . I feel fortunate because his hands are not noticeably deformed but they could so easliy have been. .After my first pregnancy I wouldn't even take a tylenol when I was pregnant. They were already beginning to suspect tetracycline affects the tooth and bone growth in the fetus so I knew that had been the cause of his problem,. If I'd been pregnant a year later I never would have taken the antibiotic. Please don't take any chances, it's just not worth it.

Answer Fairy

Yes and no. Taken over a long period of time will cause internal damage, particularly to your liver. This is no different to being an alcoholic. It's not easy to stop. I'll bet there are a lot of idiots on here who will tell you to "just stop." If it were that easy, there would be no need for rehab centers.

You need to make a decision about how you want to live your life. If you want children, obviously, you need to stop taking narcotics. Yes, the prescription pills are classified as narcotics. Opiates. You also need to get some support. I suggest NA (Narcotics Anonymous). It's not easy. You shouldn't have to do this all by yourself.

The desire for pills never goes away. I quit 6 years ago and I still have days where I would kill for a Norco. I understand how you feel, but its entirely up to you. >hugs<

Virginia W

I take Hydrocodone for Fybromyalgia and a specialist said online he did not think the addiction was a problem long term. However if you are going to have a baby you most likely need to get off it.
While I was researching that med I saw some sites on the list page that dealt with the addiction of it. So there is most likely one for what your other one is.
If it was me I would go to a trusted doctor and talk to him about it. He can perhaps put you on something not narcotic to fill the gap until you wean off the stuff.

featheritto

at least you realize it. my mom has the same problem but wont admit it, she has 4 children (16,15,10,3) (im 16) its awful. just remind yourself you can lose everything and try and do some daily activities to get your mind of it. my mom has been this way for 3 years, when she cant get it through her doctor she goes to the e.r. vomiting and is in there for weeks at a time. shes so wrapped up in it she doesnt realize shes losing everything. my sister and i have been raising my baby brother, and we completely lost our teen life. we hate her for it and everytime we confront her she gets pissed and thinks we love dad more then we love her. i noe you didnt want to hear my sob story but my point is, your doing a good job by cutting back, dont do anything dramatic, go off it slowly, instead of 8 go to 6. then to 5, then 4, (you get the pic). if you cut back slowly then it wont hurt so bad when your completely off it. and its going to be killing you emotionally noeing that your getting less then what you want, but if you keep going eventually 8 isnt going to be enough, your body is going to adjust to it and your gonna want 10 then 11 then 13, and im pretty sure there is a harmful number in there.
its good you realize you have a problem. take baby steps.
i hope this helps.
and i wish you the best of luck.

ssr_bc_09

It doesn't matter if you think you can fight this on your own or not, you need to talk to your doctor about it. One of my best friends has become addicted to heroin, and actually broke into our house and stole pain meds I was and still am on for chronic spinal pain..he is now in California in rehab trying to get over this, but the addiction will never leave him; it will only soften over time. I'm not implying that you are going to start shooting up, just that you need to get a handle on this now, before it hurts you and those you love. Good luck, and God Bless.

Erwin S

you are swinging between fear and pleasure, pain drugs are high in caffeine and some amount of anti inflammatory drug, the last one is less addictive then the caffeine, caffeine is hard to get rid of but i suggest you substitute gradually with some vitamins as you shift from pain killers to vitamins.
if there is something worry some is the fact that pain meds damage the liver tissues and sometimes the damage can be permanent, so please be advised and afraid. good luck and lots of God's blesses

Thriolith

I'd have to say speak with your doctor? Centers for addiction and mental health do exist, your doctor should be able to recommend one.

Gov't Mule

It's time to give up the secret before you kill yourself. Most of the answers here don't have a clue as to how powerful of an opiate you are taking. And fact that you are self medicating combined with the other meds you are lucky you're not dead already. You have a very serious drug problem that isn't one that you can deal with on your own. The withdrawls would either kill you or make you wish you were dead for a few weeks.

If you have been getting all those meds from one doctor and you have been able to take that many in a day he should lose his license to practice medicine. He's is nothing more than a legal drug dealer!!.

And the answer that states that you will be ok, that you are not taking a lethal dose must not have read the part about that you are doing hydrocodone, zoloft & xanex along with the hydromophone. I've lost many friends to overdosing,,, get help and live to see your child grow up.

Here are a few links that will give you some good info but you need to have medical help.